


after

by thir13enth



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, achronological, literally just fluff and weird headcanons, post-zarkon, shallura - Freeform, super untraditional story format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 23:57:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10729974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thir13enth/pseuds/thir13enth
Summary: When the war is over, they return to Earth.—shallura. post-Zarkon. achronological.





	after

**Author's Note:**

> fifty words, fifty scenes — adopted from a list that dragonshost from tumblr challenged me to way back when. (i don't have the link anymore)
> 
> the exercise was to write a single sentence containing each word, and i attempt to make a haphazard achronological story out of each sentence, and then an entire world out of fifty of those.

  * Nothing means frisky more to him than when she waltzes into the kitchen as he’s making breakfast, wearing nothing but her thin nightgown and a mischievous smile that stretches past the magenta marks of her eyes. She comes forward to kiss him good morning and he’s not sure if his heart jumps because of the sudden pop of the toaster or because of her wandering hands.
  * Ever the natural athlete, Allura quickly picks up all the sports that Earth can offer her — easily throwing the furthest pass, scoring a goal from the most acute angle, finishing a marathon with barely a sweat — but Shiro still thinks she’s best at catching his eye.
  * Shiro thought she would have a natural affinity for cats after spending ages with the Lions, but ten scratches and four bites later, he decides — as he wraps a bandaid around her finger — that maybe his plan to adopt the stray cat isn’t such a great idea after all.
  * She still misses her planet dearly — the pink-tinted sunrise of the second sun rising over the fuchsia horizon of blooming juniberry flowers — but when the soft white Earth sunlight stirs him quietly awake, the first thing he sees is her brilliant smile, and she thinks she can see the same morning in the rose of his cheeks.
  * She’s never been consistent about doing laundry and she is guilt free when it comes to borrowing his shirts after she runs out of clean clothes to wear. The extra-large white cotton v-neck with the coffee-stained hem is her favorite, and while that is the softest top he owns, he doesn’t mind because he loves how one of her shoulders sticks out from its wide collar.
  * The blaring morning five-thirty alarm makes them groan audibly, reminding them that they still have to get out of bed on weekday mornings to go teach at the Academy — even if they are retired heroes of the universe. The workday spares no one.
  * At first, it’s annoying to introduce herself since Earthlings aren’t familiar with the blend of consonants and vowels in Altean names like her own, but now it’s become a routine when they ask her to spell her name: He tells them, “You know, _alluring_ — spelled just like how she looks.”
  * The hardest thing is keeping his lips off her flawless skin — especially as she slips between the sheets after a warm clean shower. He allows himself just a goodnight embrace and a kiss on the lips. Anything more and they would not get sleep.
  * This day is the hardest. And while with every passing year, his heart grows denser, growing small enough to hold easier in his chest, he still struggles to wear pride on his uniform in the face of the gravestones of two other men that should have earned the same badge of honor. She embraces him until his tears dry.
  * “Growing old together” seems romantic until even Allura’s nightly back massages aren’t enough for his lower back pain and Shiro admits to himself he needs extra foam for his side of his mattress to appease his aging body.
  * She never believed she would ever smile the way she smiled before her youth was stolen by the Galrans but it’s the littlest things — the melted chocolate on the tip of his nose, the way he can never not burn his toast in the morning, the sneeze that makes him spill water all over his shirt — that make her laugh and make her a believer.
  * He’s not a good dancer at all, but she’s doesn’t mind taking his hand and guiding him now, as how he held her hand and stayed alongside her when they were traveling across galaxies.
  * Perched on the eastern horizon are the constellations that he knows best. Tonight, he holds her hand up against the black night, add the new sparkle on her ring finger to the starry skies.
  * His obsession with her hair shows the most when she wakes in the morning and finds his nose buried into the back of her neck and the ends of her silver strands curled around his fingers.
  * She has a gift for getting the two of them out of work early and perhaps he could be a little jealous knowing she uses her brilliant smile and seductive wink on others aside from him, but he knows once they’re both pardoned to go home, she turns an even wittier smile and playful wink to only him.
  * Plaid shirts don’t suit him. She prefers his clothes on the floor.
  * Her skin is weak to the cold, and she insulates herself with an extra sheet, one extra sweater, and of course, his arm around her waist.
  * His judgement of time is always a little off when he’s with her — and when he rushes into his morning meetings and apologizes for his tardiness, his coworkers try not to mention that there’s still a deep maroon lip print over his left cheek.
  * Inequality didn’t end with Zarkon. The fight for more pay for her doesn’t come easy. They excuse the unequal salary to their combined investment through marriage but he briskly reminds them she deserves just as much, if not more than him.
  * The monarchy is long gone but he still treats her like a queen. But there are nights she asks him to take her like she doesn’t wear a crown on her head, and it’s these nights she appreciates his cold fingers and rough lips the most.
  * The purple pulse of his mechanical arm still makes curious noises in the middle of the night but she’s grown rather fond of the soft whirs of the gears that match the twitches of the rest of his body while he dreams.
  * Their firstborn crawls earlier than expected for the average human child, and it’s really only now when Shiro starts to ponder exactly how much Altean blood their kid has inherited.
  * Honestly the only foreseeable grievance he carries against Allura is that she always draped _her_ towel over _his_ bathroom hook and… well… he’s just a bit particular about where he leaves his towels.
  * A rebel at heart, Allura has no qualms about eating breakfast for dinner, and well, thank god because Shiro doesn’t know how to cook much beyond scrambled eggs or other variants of the dish.
  * The bedroom light makes her long hair shimmer like rivers of silver — his favorite, but even now as she climbs into bed to give him a kiss, her hair recently cut short, the ends of her clipped hair feather over his skin in ways that he can’t complain about at all.
  * Beach days are some of Shiro’s favorite — a long day of nothing but the sun, the ocean, making sandcastle-ships with his toddler, and Allura in a swimsuit.
  * It’s his cryptic answers to her incessant questions that gives it away — he’s planning something for their fifth anniversary, for sure.
  * He still wakes up in the middle of the night, dazed and confused, but she gives him a kiss to clear him from the disorientation and remind him that indeed, they are on Earth and that yes, everything is over.
  * One day on a whim, they decide to go underwater scuba diving, and for a moment while swimming through the colorful coral reefs and among schools of fish and exploring the aquatic underworld, it feels a little bit like they’re back on Voltron, discovering new worlds all over again.
  * While unpacking the rest of Shiro’s boxes into their new home, Allura discovers a mysterious small square dark-colored box with a ring in it — and it’s not until he’s down on one knee and she recalls a brief paragraph from her readings about American customs that she finally puts two and two together. Either way, she’s surprised.
  * As mischievous as Allura is, Shiro can always tell if when she has a scheme planned out in her head, but Allura is confident that there is there no way he can predict the surprise birthday party he has coming for him — not when Hunk and Pidge are the ones organizing it.
  * There’s a small valley between the mountains just a few miles north of where they live, where one day they looked at how beautifully the sun dipped below the horizon and decided that this is where they would choose to bury themselves when their time is up.
  * Allura returns home from a long day at work, only to find Shiro knocked out on the couch, having lost the battle against sleep while waiting for her to come home, the pale moonlight trickling in from the window making the white tuft over his forehead glow a dull gray.
  * She tries to remain cheerful when she sees the new stray cat that Shiro picked up off the streets, but memories of a destroyed closet — her clothes inside shredded to bits — and many broken dishes — including their kid’s favorite plate — from a past adoption keeps her smile tense.
  * Shiro has never fallen so deep into opposition with Allura — even with all those years in the same castle-ship — as he is now, trying to figure out what color white to paint the walls of their house. He insists an ivory white would be the best to match with the rest of their haphazardly acquired furniture, but she’s more a fan of the warm honey white. And neither of them are giving way.
  * Sometimes he thinks everything is so perfect that he must be living in a daydream… and then a cry from the crib stirs him back to reality.
  * Every now and then — and _especially_ when Shiro comes by her workplace for a surprise visit — Allura’s powers slip out from under her control, causing a small brief gust of wind or a rapid burst of droplets from the water fountain, but Allura continues to insist that the mishappenings are just nearby sprites haunting the company building.
  * How can they be anything but heartbroken when they realize their secret stash of leftover Halloween candy was discovered by their very hungry, very voracious toddler?
  * Shiro can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy whenever he realizes that by the end of the week, their daughter has spent more time with her mother than with him, but his attempts to make up for lost father-daughter time are to no avail — their daughter simply does not appreciate baseball.
  * Their daughter’s first birthmark, a set of wings under her eyes in the same shape as her mother’s markings, appears just a few days after she is born — Allura sighs and presses a kiss to their daughter’s forehead, remarking to Shiro with a small smile that the color matched that of her late father.
  * On the fourth moon of their daughter’s birth, as per Altean custom, Allura drapes an amulet around their newborn’s neck — with a deep blue jewel inset that reminds Shiro of his wife’s eyes.
  * Sometimes after long business trips, they miss each other so much that when they kiss, they knock their lips clumsily into each other and Shiro ends up with a metallic taste on his tongue.
  * The nights are never long enough to spend as much time as they want in each other’s arms but she hopes that her goodbye kisses in the morning before they part for work imprint long enough on his skin to last for the entire day.
  * She teases him whenever his cheeks grow rosy from even the softest of alcoholic drinks, but quickly the harsh aftertaste of margarita salt in his mouth is replaced by her sweet kiss.
  * Allura’s first attempt at cooking Earth cuisine looked like a hybrid of Coran’s space goo and Lance’s last attempt at baking — except worse. It’s only after Shiro takes a courageous bite of her prepared meal when he finally admits that maybe, just _maybe_ , he should stick to kitchen duty.
  * When Allura comes down with a case of the “space sneezies,” Shiro offers her honey ginger lemon tea exactly the way she likes it, even if it’s more honey than ginger, lemon, or tea.
  * It’s too bad that Shiro knows how strong Allura’s love for the bittersweet taste of dark chocolate is — she’s ended up going to all too many company mixers with him ever since.
  * They plant a small oak tree in their backyard when they move into their new home — it’s a bit far from the city where their children work, but just close enough for them to visit their grandchildren.
  * Their favorite version of their love story to tell is the one where Allura, with her dangerous Altean powers, bewitches him and they end up living happily ever after together — of course, that’s a lie, but the two of them always think it funny to see how strangers react.
  * After a long lazy afternoon rolling around in the green grass field, they end in each other’s arms. The buzz of excitement brings his inhibitions down, and Shiro asks if she wants to stay on Earth with him. She doesn’t tell him an answer — instead laughing at the clump of grass that’s stuck in his hair — but there’s a smile on her face that’s so genuine that he doesn’t need the words to know her answer.




End file.
